Law in Popular Culture
OJ Simpson estate accepts $58M claim by father of Ron Goldman, killed along with Nicole Brown Simpson
Lawyer Johnnie Cochran Jr. addresses the court during a hearing for professional football player O.J. Simpson in Los Angeles on July 29, 1994. (Photo by Nick Ut/The Associated Press)
The estate of former professional football player O.J. Simpson has approved a $58 million claim filed by the father of Ron Goldman, who was fatally stabbed along with Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994.
Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995, but he was found liable for $33 million in a civil lawsuit filed by the victims’ families in 1997. The Goldman family collected only a small part of the award, and Ron Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, is also unlikely to recover much from the estate, report the Los Angeles Times, WATE and the Associated Press.
The estate is valued at less than $600,000, and administrative expenses and an IRS debt must be paid first. The $58 million claim represents the balance due to the Goldmans plus interest.
“There’s no guarantee the estate has or will have the funds to pay this amount, or even any portion of it,” said Fred Goldman’s lawyer, Michaelle Rafferty, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The estate’s value had been bolstered by the auction of items that included a replica of Simpson’s Heisman Trophy and a Bible given to him by Robert Kardashian, one of his defense lawyers in the murder trial. Kim Kardashian revealed on an episode of The Kardashians that she was the bidder who paid $80,000 for the Bible that had been owned by her father, TMZ reports.
Simpson went to prison after being found guilty in 2008 for an armed robbery in which he sought to acquire sports memorabilia that he claimed had been stolen. He died of prostate cancer at age 76 in April 2024.
See also:
Slain Victim’s Kin Own OJ Book Rights
F. Lee Bailey holds forth on Mueller report and reason for OJ Simpson’s murder acquittal
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